Syrian opposition activists in the US and the Middle East are negotiating with senior figures in President Bashar Assad’s forces to try to convince them to defect.
Members of his inner circle, including generals and senior officials, are reported to have been secretly communicating with rebel activists outside the country for weeks. They have been supplying vital information to opposition groups in return for a safe passage for their families out of the war-torn country.
One US-based activist told The Times: “They are all trying to get deals, secure passages for their families. There are so many factors that have to be in place. It is a logistical nightmare.”
An adviser to the Syria National Council said some of those who wanted to flee would stay as informants inside the regime while they remain unsuspected. “We still need them inside for now, they provide valuable information,” he said.
Another source said that while many within the regime are horrified by the violence of the past year they are nervous of jumping ship. “Some people who want to get out have yet to be convinced by the alternative,” he said.
Arab leaders were meeting today to discuss how to break the political stalemate over Syria.
A three-day Arab League conference will start today in Baghdad, opened by the 21 invited nations, over the continuing bloodshed.
Iraq’s senior diplomat, foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari, said there was a “responsibility” on all those at the summit to come up with a solution. But they were unlikely to demand the resignation of Assad, he said.
“There is a mounting crisis in Syria,” Mr Zebari said in Baghdad. “There is daily killing, there is daily bloodshed, there is a stalemate in the political solution. What should be done? This is a responsibility on all the attendees at the conference.”
Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab League envoy to Syria, was in Beijing today, trying to persuade Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to back his plan for an end to the fighting.
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Mr Annan arrived after meeting Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Moscow, where he said there was no deadline for ending the Syrian crisis but that it cannot drag on indefinitely.
The former UN secretary-general is proposing a six-point plan to end the bloodshed in Syria. Mr Annan said that above all, the Syrian government and opposition must start to resolve the conflict peacefully, adding that it was up to the Syrians themselves to decide whether Assad should step down.
About 60 countries, including the US, will attend a “Friends of the Syrian People” conference in Istanbul on Sunday.
